South Africa calls up 4 uncapped players for ODIs

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South Africa rested veteran allrounder Jacques
Kallis and called up four uncapped players on Sunday for the one-day series
against New Zealand at the end of the month.

The Proteas also brought allrounder Ryan McLaren into their
test squad as cover for fast bowler Vernon Philander, who again tweaked a
troublesome hamstring in the series-opener and is doubtful for the second test
against the Black Caps in Port Elizabeth.

The 37-year-old Kallis spoke during the first test of his
desire to manage his ODI appearances in order to make the 2015 World Cup.
Selectors responded by giving him the three-game ODI series off. Kallis also
missed the two Twenty20 games at the beginning of New Zealand's tour and Cricket
South Africa selectors decided to rest him again to help manage his workload.

Without Kallis, wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, spinner Aaron
Phangiso, batsman Farhaan Behardien and seam bowler Rory Kleinveldt were
included in a 14-man squad for the three-game limited overs series, which
begins in Paarl on Jan. 19. All four have played Twenty20 cricket for South
Africa, while Kleinveldt made his test debut in Australia late last year.

South Africa has three ODIs against New Zealand and five
against Pakistan before the Champions Trophy — the main ODI tournament this
year — in England in June.

"The Champions Trophy also marks the halfway point to
the next ICC World Cup, so this is a critical part of our preparation to win
these two major ICC events," head selector Andrew Hudson said. "The
four newcomers have all been doing well, either in domestic cricket or by
representing the Proteas in other formats."

JP Duminy is unavailable after rupturing his left Achilles
tendon in the test series in Australia, but Hudson said the middle order
batsman "should" be fit for the Champions Trophy. Left-arm seamer
Lonwabo Tsotsobe returned to the squad after missing the T20s due to injury.

Before turning to the 50-over games, South Africa and New
Zealand meet first at St. George's Park in Port Elizabeth in the second of two
tests starting Friday.

Philander was the man of the match in South Africa's
dominant first-test win after taking 5-7 in New Zealand's first innings. But he
had a recurrence of his hamstring problems during the last day of the Cape Town
match after having had to pass a fitness test to play. McLaren would only
provide cover in the test squad, CSA said, and Kleinveldt would play if
Philander wasn't fit.

New Zealand, meanwhile, chose to return to practice almost
immediately in an effort to shrug off its dispiriting innings and 27-run defeat
inside three days at Newlands.

Coach Mike Hesson said his team had paid for its
"horror session" when it was bowled out for 45 on the first morning
but had shown some fight against the South Africans — the top-ranked test team
and series winners in England and Australia last year.

"If we didn't know before we were in for an extremely
tough battle, we certainly did so quickly," Hesson said. "I think we
all knew that coming into it, but the reality hit home after the first day. We
know that we've got to be extremely strong mentally and I thought we showed
that for the latter part of the game."